I started, but never finished Infinite Jest. What stuck with me, oddly, was a sentence about the protagonist tennis player, during a meeting with his college deans, absentmindedly scratching a part of his chin "where there is a wen." I had to look up "wen" in the dictionary, as you do when reading DFW. But later, what resonated was the absurdity of that phrase, and the beauty of it when said out loud. Where there is a wen. Where there is a wen. Where there is a wen. You're welcome for the ear worm.
I really loved Infinite Jest when I read it a bit after college, & I was also at an MFA program when DFW died, though I think I may have been the most upset by his passing at the time out of our cohort. Make of that what you will. IJ still has the best description of what it’s like to be suicidal I’ve ever read (though I’ve cooled on his writing over time; too many fireworks).
I’d approach it with caution, as I’m sure you would anyway. After ~20 years since I last read it, I think I’d have a much different view on it now, but those gems—like the suicide stuff—are still gems to my mind.
1. Marty Supreme. I agree with nearly everything you said, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe because it was so manic--watching Marty get move shitty situation to shitty situation all of his own making. I felt some Rushmore vibes there. Max Fischer is so delusional and such an awful person. A bit of There Will be Blood. Daniel Planview is willing to lost everyone for his lust for success. I just saw an interview with Josh Sadie and he compared it to Saturday Night Fever. Maybe there is a genre of narcissistic men with no self awareness??
2. Infinite Jest. I finally read it about 5 years ago. I need to read it again. I am teaching a freshmen class that I was able to design myself and the first semester used his commencement address to understand the examined life. Within the last several years, in philosophy, there has developed more interest in the ethical views of Iris Murdoch. She wrote very little philosophical works, compared to her literary works, and stopped being an academic philosopher in the early 60s but she wrote a long philosophical work in the last ten years of her life, Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. DFW almost became an academic philosopher and his father was an academic philosopher that wrote about ethics and morality. There is a book out, Ordinary Unhappiness: The Therapeutic Fiction of David Foster Wallace(2019) by Jon Baskin. It is not an academic book but the title comes from Wittgenstein who argued that philosophy should be seen as an therapeutic endeavor. There is another book that came out, The Ethics of Attention: Engaging the Real with Iris Murdoch and Simone Weil(2022) that tries to clarify what is ethical about attention. I think Wallace in Infinite Jest is completely trying to make clear what is ethical about attention. What happens when we cannot pay attention?
I also think it’s weird with films (or books or art or whatever)— what works for a viewer in one context fails her in another context. That’s fine! I mean, its confounding, but its fine. I was just less impressed by Marty Supreme than I wanted to be. I think this is why I no longer even try to be a professional critic— I’m just too interested in my subjective, changeable experience of a book or film than trying to somehow create a standard rubric for art/film/literary criticism. There’s space for that, too, I think, flimsy as it is.
I started Infinite Jest this year after years of avoiding it and I'm glad I waited for the fervor to die down. It's almost shocking how prescient it is about the current state of America (via addiction/ambition & politics/capitalism). But I can't help but think maybe the course we are on has been obvious for a long time. The man could definitely write a sentence.
I highly recommend the movie The End of the Tour, which is based on David Lipsky’s 2010 book (which I also recommend), Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace. The book is a transcript of an extended interview of Wallace that Lipsky took in 1995 during a 5-day road trip on the last leg of Wallace’s book tour for his famous novel Infinite Jest.
I loved Marty Supreme as a big ass bold movie that kept my attention, and for the acting. But the supreme douchiness, well, pretty hard to take.
Whenever I hear about these Infinite Jest lit bros who turn other people off of the book I'm just glad I've never met one. I've met people who've tried and hated it, totally valid. I've met people who failed to finish, valid as well, and I've met people who, like me, who love and re-read it every few years... oh shit, am I one? I can safely say I've convinced a handful of people to give it a go and they all were happy they did. I'm excited you're gonna dive in!
I started, but never finished Infinite Jest. What stuck with me, oddly, was a sentence about the protagonist tennis player, during a meeting with his college deans, absentmindedly scratching a part of his chin "where there is a wen." I had to look up "wen" in the dictionary, as you do when reading DFW. But later, what resonated was the absurdity of that phrase, and the beauty of it when said out loud. Where there is a wen. Where there is a wen. Where there is a wen. You're welcome for the ear worm.
Lol I love this!
I really loved Infinite Jest when I read it a bit after college, & I was also at an MFA program when DFW died, though I think I may have been the most upset by his passing at the time out of our cohort. Make of that what you will. IJ still has the best description of what it’s like to be suicidal I’ve ever read (though I’ve cooled on his writing over time; too many fireworks).
Another reason to reconsider this novel.
I’d approach it with caution, as I’m sure you would anyway. After ~20 years since I last read it, I think I’d have a much different view on it now, but those gems—like the suicide stuff—are still gems to my mind.
1. Marty Supreme. I agree with nearly everything you said, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe because it was so manic--watching Marty get move shitty situation to shitty situation all of his own making. I felt some Rushmore vibes there. Max Fischer is so delusional and such an awful person. A bit of There Will be Blood. Daniel Planview is willing to lost everyone for his lust for success. I just saw an interview with Josh Sadie and he compared it to Saturday Night Fever. Maybe there is a genre of narcissistic men with no self awareness??
2. Infinite Jest. I finally read it about 5 years ago. I need to read it again. I am teaching a freshmen class that I was able to design myself and the first semester used his commencement address to understand the examined life. Within the last several years, in philosophy, there has developed more interest in the ethical views of Iris Murdoch. She wrote very little philosophical works, compared to her literary works, and stopped being an academic philosopher in the early 60s but she wrote a long philosophical work in the last ten years of her life, Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. DFW almost became an academic philosopher and his father was an academic philosopher that wrote about ethics and morality. There is a book out, Ordinary Unhappiness: The Therapeutic Fiction of David Foster Wallace(2019) by Jon Baskin. It is not an academic book but the title comes from Wittgenstein who argued that philosophy should be seen as an therapeutic endeavor. There is another book that came out, The Ethics of Attention: Engaging the Real with Iris Murdoch and Simone Weil(2022) that tries to clarify what is ethical about attention. I think Wallace in Infinite Jest is completely trying to make clear what is ethical about attention. What happens when we cannot pay attention?
this makes IJ sound really appealing. thank you.
I also think it’s weird with films (or books or art or whatever)— what works for a viewer in one context fails her in another context. That’s fine! I mean, its confounding, but its fine. I was just less impressed by Marty Supreme than I wanted to be. I think this is why I no longer even try to be a professional critic— I’m just too interested in my subjective, changeable experience of a book or film than trying to somehow create a standard rubric for art/film/literary criticism. There’s space for that, too, I think, flimsy as it is.
I started Infinite Jest this year after years of avoiding it and I'm glad I waited for the fervor to die down. It's almost shocking how prescient it is about the current state of America (via addiction/ambition & politics/capitalism). But I can't help but think maybe the course we are on has been obvious for a long time. The man could definitely write a sentence.
I highly recommend the movie The End of the Tour, which is based on David Lipsky’s 2010 book (which I also recommend), Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip With David Foster Wallace. The book is a transcript of an extended interview of Wallace that Lipsky took in 1995 during a 5-day road trip on the last leg of Wallace’s book tour for his famous novel Infinite Jest.
I loved Marty Supreme as a big ass bold movie that kept my attention, and for the acting. But the supreme douchiness, well, pretty hard to take.
Whenever I hear about these Infinite Jest lit bros who turn other people off of the book I'm just glad I've never met one. I've met people who've tried and hated it, totally valid. I've met people who failed to finish, valid as well, and I've met people who, like me, who love and re-read it every few years... oh shit, am I one? I can safely say I've convinced a handful of people to give it a go and they all were happy they did. I'm excited you're gonna dive in!